


403 Forbidden

by Across_The_Sea



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Reapers, Blood and Violence, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, explicit content in future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:26:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29200557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Across_The_Sea/pseuds/Across_The_Sea
Summary: Marie Hitomi is a rookie cop in the c-sec with her mentor Garrus Vakarian. When she gets a chance to prove herself she hires a hacker from Omega to assist her in solving the case.The only question is; is this a normal case or something more than our rookie can handle?
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Original Batarian Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Human Character(s)/Original Male Turian Character(s)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 23





	1. Zero

**Author's Note:**

> So...I know I have another turian/human fic in progress but I got this idea in my head and it just wouldn't leave!

When most people in the Citadel think of c-sec the image that comes to mind is uniformed turians patrolling with the rare human within the ranks. Marie Hitomi does not fit the image of a c-sec officer.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to put your hands behind your back and step into the car." Marie said as she took out her handcuffs to arrest the inebriated krogan in front of her. To the krogan Marie looked like a child with her four foot five frame against his seven foot build. Unable to stop himself the krogan laughed, leaning against the c-sec vehicle to keep from falling over.

"I didn't know it was take your kid to work day! Where's your daddy little girl? Didn't he tell you not to talk to strangers." The krogan laughed harder as Marie's face turned a deep shade of red. The krogan's laughter turned to spluttering as her partner and mentor Garrus Vakarian turned the krogan around and began to cuff him.

"Sir I'm going to ask you not to mock my partner while you're in the middle of being charged for public intoxication." Garrus said as he eased the krogan into the back of the car. Marie was already walking over to the passenger side and climbing in. She wished her hair was longer so she could hide her embarrassed face. 

"You did good today, two traffic stops and a public intoxication, I'd say that's a productive day." Garrus praised, giving her shoulder a pat. He meant every word; it had been 5 months since Marie graduated top of her class in c-sec academy and Garrus became her mentor. While most of the others in the force either ignored her or bet she'd quit before the year was over, Garrus and Chellick did all they could to make her feel welcome at the c-sec office.

"Garrus, this is the eighth time that I've been mocked on duty. No matter what I do, the only ones that seem to take me seriously are the volus and that's only because I'm taller than them!" Marie huffed, looking out the window as Garrus drove to the station. No matter what she tried it seemed no one would take her seriously except Garrus and Chellick. When they arrived at the station she helped Garrus drag the now passed out krogan into the drunk tank before returning to their shared office. Both were surprised to see Chellick waiting for them with a pair of files in his hand.

"Perfect timing you two; I have a case from executor Palin and I want you both on the team." Chellick passed Garrus and Marie each a file with a list of companies and dates.

"Someone has been hacking into these companies. So far nothing seems to have been changed but since the first report more companies have found backdoor programs in their systems and we're being pressured to find the culprit before they decide to take action."

Marie felt like she was going to burst with excitement. Finally a way to prove herself! If she could help solve this case then people would have to take her seriously!

"Do we have any leads? Did the cybercrime division find anything?" Marie questioned as she looked up at Chellick. This was her first real case and she was going to do everything she could to show she could handle it. She didn't like the way Chellick's mandibles fluttered as he looked away.

"Unfortunately the cybercrime division couldn't find even a trace of the hacker. The backdoor program seems to be made completely from scratch and doesn't match any known hackers we've arrested before." 

Garrus leaned against his desk as he pondered the best course of action. While he was good with tech, hacking wasn't one of his strong suits. He knew Marie only knew how to override door locks and Chellick had zero experience in either case. If they were going to solve this, they were going to need a professional on the team.

"If that's the case then we should hire one of these hackers. The best way to catch a hacker is with another hacker." Garrus suggested, moving to sit down and turn on his computer. "Remember the case with the information leak at Rosenkov Materials? We hired that quarian who figured out it was a Rosenkov employee leaking the info."

Chellick nodded, remembering the case well. It was a sound idea, something that he was thinking of himself as he waited for Garrus and Marie returned. 

"The only question is who would want to work with c-sec? Most of the known hackers have been arrested by us at least once." 

"I might have an idea." Marie piped up making Chellick and Garrus look over at her. What if we hire one that hasn't been caught by c-sec?"

Both Garrus and Chellick's browplates rose in confusion. It wasn't a bad idea per se, they just didn't know where to look for a hacker that hasn't been caught. Marie grinned and grabbed her jacket as she headed out the door.

"I'll be back, just going to take a trip to see Barla Von."

\--------------------------

Noxis was jolted awake at the sound of a gunfight outside his apartment. Taking a peek outside he could see a couple of blood pack members were in a shootout with some blue suns that wandered too close to their turf. With a groan Noxis tried to drown out the sound of gunfire by playing some music from his omni-tool as he dressed for the day. Turning on his computer a notification popped up with a message from one of his contacts. He read the message as he microwaved leftovers from yesterday's takeout.

Z,

Got a message from B, says he has a potential client for you. Names Marie Hitomi and B said she seems desperate to find a hacker.

Here's the catch, B mentioned she said she's with c-sec at the Citadel.

Let me know if you take the job, I would love to hear why c-sec is desperate for a hacker.

\- V

Noxis raised a browplate as he finished reading the message. Taking a bite out of his still slightly cold noodles he began an extensive search on Marie Hitomi to see who he was dealing with.

\--------------------------

Marie could feel herself falling asleep at her computer as she finished filing another report. She was left behind at the station while Garrus and Chellick left to collect the hard drives from the first reported incident. Suddenly a chat box opened in the middle of her screen. Confused Marie tried to close out the window only to see that there was no close button. A message suddenly appeared in the chat with the name Zero as the sender.

Zero: I hear you're looking for a hacker

Marie didn't know how to react. Was this the hacker Barla Von mentioned he was going to get her in contact with yesterday or was this their culprit messing with her?

Zero: our mutual acquaintance mentioned you to me

Well that at least reassured her that this was the hacker Barla Von mentioned. After a pause she sent a reply.

MH: Yes, I'm looking for a hacker to assist with a case. You of course will be compensated for your work assisting c-sec.

Zero: meet me at Purgatory, we can discuss payment there

Before she could reply the chat box closed and she was left staring at the report she was reviewing. Quickly sending a message to Garrus she grabbed her jacket and quickly rushed out of the station. Since she wasn't cleared to drive a squad car on her own yet she would have to reach Purgatory on foot.

It only took ten minutes for Marie to reach Purgatory and a minute inside the club to realize she didn't know what this Zero person looked like. Even at 2 in the afternoon the club was bustling with people dancing and drinking. She was going to sit at the bar and hope Zero sees her when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Follow me." A distinctly turian voice said to her as she was led to a booth nearby. Sitting down Marie was surprised to see a barefaced turian sit down across from her. In the dim lighting his carapace looked almost black but Marie could see by the table light that it was really a dark grey. The white sleeveless hoodie he wore stood out against the dark plates of his bare arms. 

"So princess, care to explain why you need a hacker instead of talking to your buddies in cybercrime?" He asked, opening his omni-tool to reread some data he found on her. Marie bristled at the nickname. She had been called multiple nicknames in just the few months she had been on the force but nothing made her react in the way his nickname did.

"The name is officer Hitomi and I would appreciate you using it." She said, hands balling into fists under the table. She could see Zero give her what she guessed was a turian version of a smirk as he pulled up a photo on his omni-tool. To her horror she could see it was a photo of her when she was fifteen and her mother tried to get her into the beauty pageant lifestyle.

"Really? Because I think princess suits you just fine." He chuckled, minimizing the photo and pulling up another window; this one with a photo of her and her parents and older brother.

"Marie Hitomi, second born to Robert and Sayumi Hitomi. Your family runs Suzaku Industry and Hitomi Technical University right? Daughter of a businessman and a university Dean on Earth and yet you're working as a cop on the Citadel. What's wrong? Don't want to go into the family business so you're rebelling against mom and dad?" 

Marie didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right and remained silent. Zero chuckled again as he sent an invoice to her omni-tool. A glance at her showed he was asking for 100,000 credits.

"If you want a professional hacker then you're going to be charged a professional hackers fee. I don't come cheap but I'm good at what I do. If you can't handle it then I'd suggest finding someone else." Zero smirked, leaning back and relaxing into the booth. If c-sec was really desperate for a hacker then he was going to get as much credits as he could from them. 

"Of course I'll wait here if you have to go and ask your superiors for the money. I'm sure they have some tax dollars lying around somewhere."

"Done."

He was surprised when his omni-tool dinged with a credit transfer confirmation. Looking at the confirmation message he wasn't expecting to see the money came from her personal account. He looked back at Marie who looked proud of herself. Maybe his silent hunch that she was a trust fund brat playing cop wasn't too far off.

"Well with that settled, I think I deserve to know your name since we'll be working together and all." Marie said as she stood up and held a hand out to him. Even in the dim light he could see the fingernail indents in her palms as he took her hand and gave her a lazy handshake.

"The names Noxis Venictus, can't say I'm pleased to be working with you just yet Princess."


	2. Match

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I ended up really wanting to write the next chapter so I you get two chapters in one day!

Garrus when Marie entered their office with Noxis following behind her. He was immediately on alert when he noticed Noxis's lack of colony markings. Noxis idly toyed with the visitors badge around his neck while Marie introduced them.

"Garrus, this is Noxis, he's the hacker I was able to hire. Noxis, Garrus, he's my mentor and partner." 

Garrus nodded at Noxis as he handed Marie a file.

"We were able to get the hard drives from the owner of Tools and Trade. It's a small business so there were only three computers that could be hacked into. Chellick is at the next business retrieving their hard drives." 

Noxis read the file from behind Marie before walking away, sending a message to Marie from his omni-tool.

"Well then if that's all you have now then send me the hard drives when you get them all. I'll give princess the hotel address where I'm staying."

Marie stuttered, grabbing his hoodie before he could walk out. Due to Noxis's large height compared to her Marie ended up grabbing the bottom of his hoodie.

"Where do you think you're going? You need to help me look through this evidence."

Noxis rolled his eyes, tugging his hoodie out of her hand before looking at Garrus. Judging by his posture Garrus could tell Noxis wanted to leave the station as soon as possible.

"I was paid to help find a hacker, not give a lesson in turian culture. She's your partner so how about you explain it." With that Noxis all but ran out of the office, tossing the visitor badge on Marie's desk. Garrus sighed, feeling a headache coming on while Marie looked at him confused.

"Did I do something wrong? I thought it would be easier if he came to the station to look at the hard drives." Marie asked, sitting down at her desk and checking the message Noxis sent her. He was staying at a hotel not too far from her apartment. 

"It's not that. You noticed he didn't have any colony markings right?" 

Marie nodded, beginning the work of writing a report to Palin that a hacker has been brought in to assist in the case. 

"I tried looking up information about that but all I got was it was rare for turians to be barefaced."

Garrus hummed in agreement. "Most turians get colony markings to show where they were raised. Being barefaced means you were raised outside the colonies and most turians see that as a reason to distrust that person. You couldn't hear it but most of the turians outside the office were giving off a warning trill because they didn't want Noxis in the station."

The longer Garrus talked the further Marie sunk into her chair. Even though she has been working around turians for months she was starting to realize she still didn't know anything about them.

"Can someone just vent me out an airlock now and end my existence?" Marie groaned, burying her face in her arms. She could hear Garrus chuckle as he stood up and gave her head a gentle pat.

"Come on, let's grab some lunch before collecting the rest of the hard drives."

\--------------------

Noxis had finished hooking up his setup in the hotel when he got a call from a familiar number. With a chuckle he answered the call to hear an angry quarian on the other end.

"I thought I told you to let me know if you took the job!" The voice yelled, making Noxis flinch.

"Calm down V before you blow out your audio projector. I just got done talking to c-sec and apparently they're looking for some hacker that broke into a couple of company systems. It's nothing that interesting, pretty sure the most interesting thing is the rookie that hired me."

He could almost feel V grinning on the other end as he flipped through channels on the TV. He already knew V probably looked up and found the same info he found on Marie. The difference was while Noxis was indifferent, V had no love for c-sec.

"Ah yes the rich girl that wants to feel special by being an officer. So tell me, does she act like the spoiled princess she sounds like?"

Noxis shrugged even though it was impossible for her to see it. 

"I didn't stick around the station to watch how she acts. From what I saw when I talked to her; her family life is a touchy subject. She took a few classes in her family's university before dropping out and joining the police academy on earth. Her records were perfect and she was recommended by the earth ambassador to join c-sec so she didn't buy her way into the position. She also personally paid my fee so she probably has something to prove to either c-sec or her parents."

V was silent on the other end long enough Noxis was starting to wonder if she hung up before finally she spoke in a low emotionless tone.

"It doesn't matter, if she's in c-sec it's only a matter of time before she's like the rest of them."

Noxis sighed, knowing well that whenever she got like this it was almost impossible to talk to her.

"Listen V, I'm going to need you to dial back your c-sec hatred while I'm doing this job. I might need your help and I'd rather not explain why you're telling princess to jump into traffic."

A knock on the door gave him the perfect excuse to get away before V started ranting.

"Gotta go, I'll call you later." With that he hung up on V and made his way to the door. Checking the door camera he could barely see the top of Marie's head on the screen.

"Well well, I didn't know the girl scouts were selling cookies on the Citadel." 

He couldn't help but snicker as he listened to Marie curse through the door.

"Just let me in or I'm going to eat your food! Dextro allergy be damned!"

That made him pause and open the door. Marie stood on the other side holding a box with what he presumed was the hard drives. Stacked on top of the box were two boxes of takeout containers appropriately labeled levo and dextro. 

"I didn't know if you already ate but consider this an apology for dragging you to the station. Garrus explained it to me and I thought this might make up for it."

It had been hours since he had lunch and the smell of both meals was making his stomach rumble. Without replying he stepped to the side and let Marie in while he went to turn on his computer.

"Set the hard drives on the table here and I'll get to scanning them." 

Marie nodded, setting the takeout to the side and unpacking the stacks of hard drives. From the five companies the total of hard drives came to 12. Luckily most could be connected to wirelessly which allowed him to begin a simultaneous scan for any similar traces. With that taken care of he grabbed the dextro take out box and sat on his bed while Marie sat in one of the chairs near the table. The only sound either of them made was eating while a random show on TV played in the background. Noxis couldn't stand the silence and longer and flicked a sauce package at Marie.

"Listen, you don't need to apologise for what happened. I'm used to the looks and warnings whenever I'm around other turians."

He could see Marie's shoulders visibly relax but she was still silently eating. Looks like it was time for drastic measures.

"You know I'm still waiting for those girl scout cookies. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere they started making dextro varieties."

He chuckled as a ketchup packet was thrown at his head and Marie glared at him. 

"I'm too old to be a girl scout you dick!"

"You could have fooled me."

"I'm twenty six! Didn't all your invading of my private life tell you that!"

"Yeah but it also said your aunt married a batarian so I can't believe everything I find on the net."

"You mean aunt Lizzie? Yeah, they've been married for a few years now."

Noxis almost choked on a piece of meat at her confirmation.

"Wait, that one was true? How does that even work?" He couldn't imagine a human and a batarian in the same room much less in a relationship. Marie shrugged, taking a bite from her meal. Unlike her parents, she kept in contact with her eccentric aunt who was kind enough to recommend the apartment she lived in now. 

"I can't explain her tastes but Barroch is a nice guy. They live here on the Citadel and I visit them once in a while. Maybe I'll bring you next time to prove its true."

"I don't think I'm mentally prepared." He chuckled, tossing his empty container in the trash. He noticed Marie barely ate any of her food and watched as she pushed around her food in the container.

"You know, when I was looking you up I found a lot of information on your parents and your brother but not too much about you." 

Marie poked a piece of vegetable as she bit her lip. It wasn't often she talked about her family and even less about her parents.

"I'm sort of the spare of the family. You probably saw my brother is mostly known as the playboy and rebellious one of the family."

Noxis nodded, remembering coming across multiple articles of his ever changing relationships and occupations.

"Well I was always the good kid growing up. When my dad wanted me to learn the piano I did even though I wanted to play drums. Mom wanted me to compete in beauty pageants I did even though I really wanted to play soccer. When my brother started acting up they decided he wouldn't take over when dad retired and instead gave that honor to me."

"Let me guess, you're not the type for pencil skirts and business meetings."

Marie nodded and laughed. "Basically. I've been telling them I wanted to be a cop before they decided to make me the next in line. The only reason I was able to join police academy was because they thought I was going through a phase."

Noxis snickered. "Then how did you end up in c-sec? Did you run away and hopped on the first ship off Earth?" 

Marie's silence was all he needed to hear for his snickers to turn into laughter.

"So the princess escaped the castle to be a cop in space. You should write that down and sell the movie rights."

She couldn't help but join in on his laughing. Looking back on it one could find the story humorous. Their laughter was interrupted be a beep from Noxis's computer. He got up and sat at the chair next to Marie to look at the computer screen.

"Looks like we got a match from the hard drives. One hard drive from each company was manually bugged with a backdoor program." He immediately opened another program and brought up employee records from each company. In a few minutes he brought up the file of five different employees which shared the same human in their employee ID.

"Looks like this might be our bugger. It's too early to tell if he's also the hacker but it looks like he got a job at each company, worked for a few months and then quit after bugging the computer."

He sent the results to Marie's omni-tool who sent a message to update Garrus.

"It's a good start. I'll see if I can find his picture in our criminal database. If not then maybe customs might have registered him coming or going at some point."

Noxis watched amused as she used her omni-tool to do an image search of the c-sec records. After a few minutes of searching she let out a happy cry as she was given a single result.

"His name is Ludwig Wilson and he was previously arrested for altering shipping inventory and taking the uncounted cargo. He has a place in the lower wards. I'll message Chellick to issue a warrant."

Marie quickly finished eating her food before packing up the hard drives. Noxis watched her zip around the room while he looked up the name provided. He frowned when he found the same name registered to a home in Omega.

"Hey princess, if you're going to arrest this guy I would suggest bringing some backup."

When he received no response he looked away from his screen to see she had already left while her jacket was left draped across the seat she previously sat in.


	3. Shot

Evening in the lower wards was just as busy as it was in the day. The address placed Ludwig Wilson living near a strip of bars well known for pub crawl events. Marie quickly followed Garrus through the apartment until they reached the address noted in the database. Even though the metal of the door Marie could faintly hear a tv as Garrus rang the doorbell.

"One second!"

Marie and Garrus weren't expecting to hear a woman's voice and waited until the door was opened by an asari woman.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked with a pleasant smile. Garrus and Marie looked at each other before Marie spoke up.

"Hello ma'am, my name is Marie Hitomi and this is Garrus Vakarian. We're from c-sec and we're looking for a man named Ludwig Wilson. We were informed he lived at this address."

At the mention of Ludwig the woman immediately perked up. "Oh my husband, is everything alright? He's not in trouble is he?"

Marie's omni-tool notified her of a message which she ignored while the woman, introducing herself as Ma'ia, led them inside the apartment. The apartment wasn't what anyone would call cozy. The living room was mostly bare except for a few pictures hanging on the wall along with a couch and tv. Marie and Garrus accepted her offer to sit while she made tea.

"Something isn't right." Garrus whispered to Marie, looking around the bare room. This wasn't what he imagined a married couple living together would look like. He expected at least one of the photos to be of the couple or a wedding photo. Instead scenic shots of Thessia and Earth were what littered the walls. Marie looked down at her omni-tool to reread Ludwig's file for a mention of being married when she noticed the message earlier was from Noxis. She felt a chill as she read the short message.

Don't go in the apartment.

Just as she was about to mention the message to Garrus she heard a gun cock just behind her head.

\-----------------------

Noxis ran as quickly as he could through the Citadel streets. He had a bad feeling when Marie didn't reply to his message. When he finally reached the apartment building he was on edge as he worked on hacking through the apartment door lock. Just when he finally unlocked the door he heard a muffled gunshot, probably from a silencer, and a cry from Marie along with cursing from Garrus. Noxis quietly slipped into the apartment and saw Marie on the ground, curled in a ball with her arms bound behind her back. Even from his position Noxis could see a trickle of blood running down her forehead. Garrus was kneeling next to her while a human and asari stood in front of them, guns pointed at him and Marie.

"It's just two cops, just let me kill them and get us out of here." Ma'ia said, grabbing Marie by her hair and forcing her back on her knees. With her sitting up Noxis could see a large bloodstain on her shirt from her gunshot wound. 

"We gotta make sure they don't have any backup waiting for them. We'll have to contact our guy to delete anything they collected after this." Ludwig said, pressing the muzzle of his gun into Garrus's forehead.

With a flick of his wrist Noxis used his biotics to slam Ma'ia against Ludwig and throw them against the wall. Keeping them pinned down Noxis ran over to Garrus and cut him loose with his pocket knife. Garrus quickly grabbed his and Marie's handcuffs to cuff Ludwig and Ma'ia. Once they were secured Noxis cut Marie free and carefully picked her up while Garrus called for backup.

"Noxis?" Marie groaned, keeping a hand over her wound to stanch the bleeding. Part of her thought she was imagining him due to the combination of being pistol-whipped and shot. Noxis sat down, holding her still while Garrus applied some medi gel to her gunshot wound.

"Hey princess, sorry I couldn't get here sooner, traffic was killer." He said, mandibles twitching as he grinned at her. While Garrus glared at him for making a joke at a time like this; Marie gave a weak chuckle, wincing as her laughter made her wound sting.

"Maybe leave the jokes for when I don't have a hole in my stomach." Marie suggested as emergency response entered the room and took her out of Noxis's arms. As she was taken away Garrus nudged Noxis and gestured for him to follow.

"I didn't expect you to be a biotic." Garrus said as he led Noxis deeper into the apartment. After searching most of the rooms they found in one of the bedrooms was a computer along with two laptops and a stack of data pads.

"There's some benefits to being born on Omega." Noxis replied sarcastically as he turned on the computer. There wasn't much he could do without his own equipment but with his omni-tool he could at least get through the password lock.

"How did you know to come here anyway?" Garrus asked as he collected the data pads.

"After princess left, quite quietly, might I add you should really put a bell on her, I looked for more info on the guy and it turns out he used to live in Omega right in the heart of eclipse territory. I don't know if he's involved with eclipse but I didn't want to risk it so I ran over."

Garrus nodded in understanding. "I don't know when you showed up but Wilson mentioned a guy deleting what we collected. I'm not completely sure but it sounds like they might have someone in c-sec working for them."

"Yeah I heard that. I can take the hard drive from this computer and the laptops and send you anything I find. If your guess is right, it's not safe bringing any evidence to c-sec."

\--------------------

Marie was becoming stir crazy in her hospital bed. 

It had been a few days since the incident at the apartment and Marie was still in the hospital due to the gunshot grazing her liver. Garrus and Chellick would stop by after their shifts to keep her company but it wasn't enough to keep her from wanting to leave her room and wander.

"Hey there princess."

Marie jumped and looked at the doorway to see Noxis leaning against the door frame with a familiar grin on his face. This was the first time he had visited her since she was admitted to the hospital. 

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked, carefully sitting up in her bed. Noxis walked over and draped a jacket over her shoulders. She quickly realized it was the jacket she accidentally left in his room.

"Thought you could use some fresh and something other than bland hospital food." 

While she was ready to leap out of her bed at the prospect of seeing something other than white walls and the same scenery outside her window she couldn't help but look at him suspiciously. "You didn't hack in and change my medical record to allow me to leave did you?"

Noxis looked at her surprised before looking away with a contemplative look. "No but I might need to try that sometime." 

Before she could throw a pillow at him for the comment he passed her the bag he was holding. Inside was some of her clothes she could change into.

"Garrus has been getting updates from your doctor and he said you can go outside for a while as long as you have someone with you to keep you from overexerting yourself." He explained, turning to face away from her to allow her to change out of her hospital gown. 

"Did he mention how long until I can leave this place?" She asked as she quickly dressed and climbed out of bed. She walked slower than usual but she was just glad she didn't need to lean on anything to support herself.

"He said you should be discharged in a few days but you won't be able to return to work for a while. I'll explain everything once we get out of here." Noxis led her out of her room and through the hospital until they were outside the building. He directed her over to a car he rented to make it easier for him to take her out. Once they were in and driving away Noxis finally spoke up.

"While you were out I looked through the laptops we collected and it had info on other companies that Wilson was targeting along with some encrypted files I'm still trying to unlock. Garrus and I think there might be a mole in c-sec so we've been keeping the evidence to ourselves until we find out more about who Wilson is working for."

Noxis parked the car in front of a restaurant Marie recognized as a popular levo/dextro restaurant that made earth inspired meals. Luckily it wasn't too busy and they were quickly seated and looking through the menu. The words on her menu seemed to blend together as the thought about the idea that some in c-sec was working with Wilson. Before she could think about it any further she was jolted back by a pointed claw poking her forehead.

"Hey, don't worry about it too much. Garrus is keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious and I'm holding on to all evidence. Whatever they're doing we're going to find it out and you'll get the recognition you deserve."

Marie could feel a warmth filling her chest at his words. While she still has worries and reservations, she felt reassured that everything will work out.

"Thanks Nox."

"Anytime princess. Also you should order the burger so I can have some of your fries."


	4. Flames

Noxis could feel the eye strain setting in as his claws flew over the keyboard. Almost a week has passed since obtaining the laptops and still he couldn't crack the encrypted files. He didn't know if he should be impressed with the coder that made this encryption or feed them to a hungry thresher maw.

"I thought I told you to take a break? Do I need to tie you up to get you away from the screen?"

Noxis looked back to see Marie standing right behind him with a bag of takeout and drinks for lunch. Once again he didn't even hear his hotel room door open.

"You can tie me up if you let me put a bell on you. Seriously, I've heard hanar walk louder than you." Noxis smirked, knowing full well she couldn't smack him due to her hands being full.

"Keep it up and I might not feed you. I was even nice enough to go to that noodle place you like so much." She held up a container containing said noodles. Noxis made a grab for the container but it was quickly held behind her back.

"Princess, I haven't eaten since yesterday. Are you really cruel enough to starve a poor turian?" He pretended to sound upset while Marie rolled her eyes. She passed him the container along with his drink before sitting down in the chair next to him.

"That's not my fault. Honestly you probably would have starved days ago if I didn't stop by." 

Even though he had his noodles, Noxis's focus returned to his computer. While officially the case was closed with Wilson and Ma'ia being convicted using the information Noxis dug up; unofficially Garrus, Chellick and Marie were still looking for who Wilson was working for since while the computer did belong to Wilson, the two laptops were unregistered and had no signs Wilson used it for himself. Noxis was pulled out of his thoughts by Marie's hand on his arm.

"Hey relax, you'll figure out a way to unlock it." She reassured him with a smile. She couldn't hear it but Noxis's subvocals hummed softly as he relaxed slightly. Finally he sighed and sat back, opening the container to dig into his noodles.

"I think I'm gonna have to bring V in on this. She's the only one who I think might have a chance at cracking it."

His comment surprised Marie. She was so used to him boasting that he was the best hacker around, it was surprising to hear him admit someone could do something he couldn't.

"Who is she? Some sort of hacking god?" She joked, making Noxis chuckle.

"She taught me everything I know about hacking. She's a stubborn old quarian that basically raised me along with my mother." He smiled fondly as he remembered the cranky quarian woman teaching him how to hack drones and lock people out of their apartments.

"Sounds like you really care about her, I'd like to meet her sometime." Marie said, making Noxis look away in embarrassment.

"Unfortunately she isn't the type to have tea and cookies for the local c-sec. It's not my place to tell it but she had an incident with c-sec when she was younger that made her hate them."

Marie could understand. During her time on the Citadel she had seen the poor treatment of quarians that visited and while she couldn't do much about how others treated them, she usually made an effort to assist them whenever she could.

Her omni-tool notified her of an incoming call. Assuming it's Garrus she answered on speaker so she could continue eating. "Hey I'm having lunch with Nox, what's up?"

"Nox huh? Did you finally find yourself a boyfriend sweetie? And here I thought I'd surprise you at your place but it looks like I'm the one surprised!" 

Noxis cursed when he was splashed by Marie spitting out her soda. The voice was obviously not Garrus.

"Aunt Lizzie! I thought you were in Illium!" Marie began scrambling to collect her things while Noxis watched her, casually eating his noodles.

"I just got back! It was so beautiful, you should really visit sometime. Of course Barroch mostly stayed in the hotel but you know how he is." Marie could hear Barroch grumble in the background. "Anyway are you on your way back? You should bring your boyfriend with you and introduce us!"

"Nox isn't my- and she hung up." Marie sighed, quickly shoveling down her soup before grabbing her bag. "Sorry Nox, I gotta go keep my aunt from rading my apartment."

"Give me a sec to send these files to V and I'll come with you."

"What?" Marie stuttered while he sent a message to V with the encrypted files. Afterwards he quickly finished his noodles and stood up to grab his hoodie. Noticing her reaction his mandible twitched as he smirked. 

"Remember you offered to introduce me to your aunt? Besides…" he leaned down so he was at her eye level. "Can't disappoint your aunt by showing up without your boyfriend."

They left the hotel with Marie rubbing her sore hand and Noxis rubbing his sore mandible.

\-------------------------

"Marie! It's so good to see you again!" Elizabeth Hitomi pulled her niece into a bone crushing hug. Marie struggled to escape her aunt's hold while Noxis snickered at the scene in front of him. When she finally released Marie she turned her attention to Noxis.

"And you must be Marie's boyfriend! I'm so glad she finally found someone! And you're so tall! I know you're small dear but I didn't think you'd go for someone you'd need to kiss with a step stool!"

Marie could feel her face burning in embarrassment while Noxis laughed and shook Elizabeth's hand.

"Unfortunately ma'am I'm just one of her friends, sorry to disappoint you." Noxis said, giving Marie a wink who responded by flipping him off behind her aunt's back.

"Oh that's what they all say. I said the same thing about my Barroch and look at us now, five years of wonderful marriage. Did Marie ever tell you about how we met? It was when I was still a reporter and got a chance at an exclusive interview on Khar'shan…"

Marie watched as her aunt dragged Noxis into her living room to talk and sighed. She loved her aunt but sometimes she was overwhelming. A hand on her shoulder reminded her she wasn't alone and she smiled as she looked back at Barroch.

"Sorry for showing up out of the blue, you know how she is," Barroch apologized, knowing very well how much of a handful his wife could be. Not many knew but that in your face attitude was what drew him to Elizabeth in the first place.

"It's alright, at least Nox is the one suffering instead of me." Marie laughed, noticing Noxis try to escape from her aunt. 

"Don't worry, I'll save your boyfriend in a minute. I've got reservations at that nice sushi place she has been wanting to go to for our anniversary." 

"He's not my boyfriend!" Marie cried, covering her face with her hands. Barroch laughed and gave her a smack on the back.

"Ah I remember when I was young. Come on Liz, let's give these two some privacy now." 

Elizabeth left Noxis in the living room and returned to her husband's side, kissing his cheek before giving Marie one last hug.

"Keep in touch sweetie, remember to not overwork yourself. Love you!"

Marie waved them off as they left and sighed in relief when she heard the door close.

"Damn can she talk. I thought I was about to fall asleep when she started talking about when she got to interview the council." Noxis yawned as he laid across her couch. "I think I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when you want me gone."

Before she could reply she could already hear Noxis softly snoring. Shaking her head she went to grab a blanket from her room and draped it across his sleeping form.

\-------------------------

Garrus yawned as he finished the last report for the night. He was tempted to call Noxis to see if he made any progress with the files but a glance at his clock made him think twice about calling at midnight. As he was collecting his things to head home he was surprised by Chellick bursting in.

"Garrus! We have a problem." Chellick said as he grabbed the remote to the tiny tv on Marie's desk and turned it on, changing the channel to the news. The screen showed a shaky camera recording of a building with one of the higher floors engulfed in flames. Garrus was confused at what he was seeing until the camera zoomed out and he could see the name of the hotel. 

"Is that-"

"Yeah, the hotel Noxis is staying at was just bombed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So funny story, my aunt's birthday was today and she asked if she could be a character in my story so I decided to base Marie's aunt after my own!


	5. Feelings

Shepard was jolted awake by her omni-tool going off with a call. She let out a yawn as she sat up and answered the call. She tried not to sound half asleep as she tried to quickly wake herself up.

"This is Shepard."

"Shepard, sorry for waking you up but we have a mission. I'm sending you over the information now, meet me at c-sec when you're ready." Nihlus said as he sent the mission briefing to her omni-tool before hanging up. She quickly dressed and skimmed through the document as she headed to her car. 

\--------------------------

"Nox! Nox wake up!"

Noxis jolted awake, almost falling off the couch if it wasn't for Marie's hand on his chest. He could hear the news on the TV in the background as Marie spoke in a panicked tone.

"I'm sorry to wake you up but we have a problem. The hotel was just bombed and I was just called to c-sec. You can stay here until I'm done. Garrus thinks your room was hit in the bombing." 

And here he thought it was only Omega he had to worry about his things getting destroyed. With a yawn he sat up, stretching lazily. 

"Nah it's fine, I'll come with. If I'm the one targeted it would suck if your place got destroyed."

Seeing Marie worry her lip he reached out and ran a hand through her hair, giving it a playful ruffle. He had always wondered what her hair felt like and was surprised to find it was soft like silk.

"I'll be fine, you really gotta stop worrying about me so much." He teased, poking her cheek as he got up and walked past her. Marie glared at his back as she quickly walked to match his stride.

"And you're too calm for someone whose room just got bombed!"

"Princess where I come from that's considered a welcome to the neighborhood gift!!"

\--------------------------

"So I get to the bar and here's this drunk as hell salarian trying to explain to a very confused krogan what a protozoa is. Apparently the salarian can't handle his liquor and accidentally drank his friend's drink and soon passed out after moving on to flirt with some asari and got thrown across the room." 

Noxis snorted while Tectis laughed at his own story. When they arrived at the station Marie was pulled into a meeting with Chellick and Garrus leaving Noxis killing time in Marie and Garrus's office until Tectis popped in and struck up a conversation with him. He definitely didn't mind having at least one turian not side eyeing him and Tectis had some funny stories. 

"So since you seem to be friends with Marie I gotta ask, does she have a boyfriend?" Tectis asked, making Noxis raise a browplate.

"We're not exactly sitting around talking about our love lives but she never mentioned anyone when she ate with me." Noxis replied, getting up to grab himself some kava both for a drink and to piss off the turian glaring a hole into the back of his head.

"Dinner? Wait, are you going out with her? Damn, didn't think Marie was into the bad boy types." Tectis mused to himself. Noxis was giving a warning trill with his subvocals before he even realized he was doing it.

"Yeah and I'd suggest you stop talking about her before you say something you regret." Noxis growled watching as Tectis raised his hands in defence and walked away. Noxis sighed setting aside the cup of kava and covering his eyes with his hand.

 _What am I doing? She isn't mine to claim._ He thought this but just the idea of Marie with another turian made an angry growl vibrate through his subvocals.

"Is the kava machine broken again? You sound angry." 

Noxis jumped when he felt a gentle hand on his arm and looked over to see Marie looking at him with a smile. Remembering what he said to Tectis brought a wave of anger and confusion. _Why do I want to be the only one that sees this smile?_

"Sorry princess, just feeling a little cooped up. I'm gonna take a walk." As he turned to walk out he felt her hand move from his arm to his hand.

"I'll come with, we're waiting for someone to come to c-sec anyway so I'm free."

He almost agreed out of habit but quickly stopped himself. He didn't understand where these feelings were coming from and the last thing he needed was the reason for these feelings near him.

"Sorry princess, I need some alone time." He said, looking away from her. When she didn't let go he glanced back to see her worrying her lip again. Without thinking he leaned down, running a hand through her hair as he pressed his forehead against hers.

"I'll be back. I just need to think about some things." He said, his subvocals letting out a soft hum. Marie's eyes widened and Noxis suddenly jerked back, realizing what he just did.

"I...I need to go."

"Nox wait!"

Before Marie could stop him he was already pushing his way out the door. Before she could chase after him Shepard and Nihlus walked through the door. As much as she wanted to chase after him, she had a job to do and would try calling him once she had time.

"Marie Hitomi I presume." Shepard said as she shook Marie's hand. Marie nodded and gestured for Shepard and Nihlus to follow her. 

"Thank you for coming at such a late hour. From what security cameras found, three people rented a room on the fourteenth floor, spent ten minutes inside before leaving. Five minutes later the camera went offline due to the explosion." Marie explained as they walked into the conference room. Garrus and Chellick introduced themselves while Marie pulled up the security footage.

"Do we have a clue to who was targeted?" Nihlus asked, looking at the hotel check in times that were given to c-sec.

"I have an idea." Garrus said as he pulled up a picture of Noxis. "This is Noxis Venictus. Recently he assisted Marie and I with a case and was working on unlocking some encrypted files we found."

He then pulled up a floor plan of the hotel and pointed to a highlighted room a floor above the room the suspects rented. "Noxis was staying at the same hotel and he was in a room above the bombed room. My guess is they were hoping to kill Noxis or destroy the hard drives in his possession. Unfortunately the hard drives were destroyed but Noxis was not in his room that night and is safe.'

"Do we have his present location now?" Shepard asked and Marie opened her omni-tool to call him.

"He just stepped out right before you arrived. I'll call him so you can talk to him." She put in his number and waited for him to answer. When he didn't answer she grew concerned and tried again. 

"That's odd. He usually answers right away." She mused. Shepherd frowned and looked over at Garrus. 

"Garrus, can you let c-sec know to keep an eye out for him. If these suspects are targeting him then he shouldn't be alone." 

Garrus nodded and left to make the call. Marie was startled when an unknown number appeared on her omni-tool. After a moment's hesitation she answered and could here the panicked voice of a quarian.

"Oh thank goodness this number worked. Listen I don't have much time to talk. You need to find Noxis quickly. I finally decrypted the files and it's not good but that's not the worst part." V quickly explained. 

"Wait what are you saying? What was in those hard drives?" Marie asked. She couldn't keep the worry out of her voice at the mention of killing. She could taste copper from her lip as V finally replied.

"First off the hard drives contained information on slave trade routes and the names of slave buyers. Second, a contact I have just informed me that a bounty has been placed on Noxis. Whoever owned these hard drives wants him dead."


	6. Cut

Noxis woke up with a groan. He could feel his head pounding as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark. From what he could see, he was in a dark, empty room. Judging by the soft hum Noxis could guess they were on a ship. Looking down he could see he was tied up with thick chains and judging by the numbness in his arm his omni-tool chip had been removed.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake."

Noxis looked up to see a portly human man flanked by two krogan bodyguards. Even when tied in chains Noxis couldn't help but show his snark.

"Wait a minute, I'm pretty sure I saw an earth movie like this. Is this the part where you make me an offer I can't refuse?" 

The krogan on the left growled before hitting Noxis in the head with the butt of his rifle.

"That's enough. I wouldn't be flapping my lips when your life is at stake. Now, my boys saw you leaving c-sec so you're going to tell me everything you told them and maybe I'll be nice and let you go." The human said making Noxis tilt his head in confusion.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Didn't you already send your goons to blow up my place?" He nodded his head to the krogan on the human's right. "Besides, I never got through your damn encryption so I had nothing to tell c-sec."

"See, I might've believed you except there's this cute little program embedded in the files that alerts me when the encryption is broken. So either you're lying to me or you gave them to someone else to unlock.

 _Shit, V must have broken through._ He thought as he kept his bored expression. He couldn't rat out V.

"I got those hard drives from c-sec so maybe they took a copy for themselves and unlocked it."

The human grinned and took out a small remote from his pocket. "You know you're right, maybe I should have my boys bring me one of them. How about I take this one." With a push of a button, a tv Noxis didn't notice turned on and he could see Marie looking worried on the screen. From the angle it must be from a hidden camera placed on one of the officers.

 _Shit, looks like c-sec really does have a mole._ Noxis bit his tongue to keep from cursing out loud when he heard the worry in Marie's voice.

"Please Samson, I just want to look at the camera outside the station. If we can figure which direction Nox went then we can find him easier!" The camera was positioned just above Marie's height and Noxis could clearly see the tears in her eyes.

"She's just a rookie cop, she doesn't have any idea how to even code. If you want to take someone, take someone from cybercrimes." Noxis said, hoping the worried thrum of his subvocals couldn't be heard. The human just chuckled.

"True but from what I've been told, she has been around you for quite some time. So, here's what we'll do. I'll give you two hours to tell me everything I want to hear and I'll keep your, what was that name you like to call her? Oh yeah, I'll keep your "princess" from meeting an unhappy end." 

Noxis began to struggle when one of the Krogan grabbed him by the neck while the other took out a combat knife.

"But first, I think it's only appropriate to let c-sec know you're in our very capable hands."

\------------------------

"Damn it Samson forget protocol! Someone's life is on the line! Let me through!" Marie shouted, trying to push her way past Samson only to be shoved back.

"Just because you've been hanging out with a criminal doesn't mean you get to forget that there are rules here officer Hitomi." Samson said coldly. Marie wanted to scream at him where he could shove his rules but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. 

"Stand down officer, as a member of the spectres I'm requesting entrance to the control room." Nihlus said to Samson. Samson hesitated for a moment before stepping aside. Nihlus moved his hand from Marie's shoulder to her back and gently nudged her forward as he walked past. "I'll also be bringing officer Hitomi with me to assist." 

Before Samson could protest Nihlus had already closed the door to the control room in his face. "Alright, let's see if we can track him down." Nihlus sat down and pulled up the front station camera. "Do you know what time he left?" 

Marie thought for a moment. "He left just before you arrived so it's probably been an hour now."

Nihlus typed in an input and the screen next to Marie showed Noxis leaving and walking to the left. "That's the direction of my apartment. There's a camera on the corner street down the road." 

Nihlus typed in the area code and time. The screen changed to the street camera. Marie gasped when she saw a man in a black hoodie with his hood up run up and hit Noxis on the back of the head. A car soon landed and Noxis was stuffed into the backseat. Marie cursed when she noticed there register ID was blacked out on the car but Nihlus didn't seem phased.

"Don't worry, there's other ways to track a car." 

There was a commotion outside the room and Marie looked at the closed door confused. She look back at Nihlus and he just gestured for her to go. "Don't worry, I can take it from here."

Marie nodded and walked out of the room. The first thing she saw was Garrus, Chellick and Shepard looking inside a box. Shepherd stepped away to call someone on her omni-tool and Marie took that chance to walk over.

"What's going on?"

Garrus and Chellick both jumped and Garrus quickly walked over to Marie and tried to push her away from the box.

"Stay back Marie...you don't want to see this."

Marie's blood ran cold and she quickly pushed past Garrus. Before Chellick had a chance to stop her Marie look into the box and had to lean on Chellick for support.

The inside the box was stained blue and sitting in the middle was one of Noxis's mandibles.


	7. Unite

"Absolutely not," Executor Palin said. "I can't authorize a leave of absence so you can go flying through the galaxy looking for one kidnapped turian. I'm sorry Marie but your request is denied.

Marie wanted to shout at Palin but she knew there was no point. After seeing Noxis's mandible, Marie personally doubled her efforts to find any witnesses to his kidnapping. Luckily Nihlus messaged her earlier saying he was able to track the car to a ship that recently took off after he tagged it with a tracker. While she trusted Nihlus and Shepard, she wanted to join them and be there when they found Noxis.

"With all due respect executor, this isn't a request. If I cannot receive a leave of absence then I quit." Marie stated, head held high. Any other time she might have laughed at Palin's shocked expression but Noxis was out there somewhere and she wasn't going to stop until he was found.

"You're really serious about this huh? You really have become stubborn like him." Palin sighed, speaking the last part to himself. "Alright, I'd hate to see c-sec lose an officer like yourself so I'll have to comply. You have a month before you have to return or I'll take your absence as a resignation."

Marie was shocked and couldn't hide her surprise that Palin relented. She quickly recovered and saluted him before running out of the office. She had to hurry and join Nihlus and Shepard at the docking bay.

\-----------------------

"We're loaded up Nihlus." Shepard said as she finished stowing the last of their supplies in Nihlus's ship. The Nova was a much smaller ship than the Normandy but Shepard didn't mind, it made it easier to take care of since it was usually just the two of them on missions.

"Great, we're just waiting for our final passenger then we can go." Nihlus said as he closed his omni-tool. He just finished reading the message from Marie who was on her way down the elevator now.

"Wait, someone else is coming?" Garrus asked as he walked over. He had begged Shepard yesterday to allow him to join them when they left. He hoped Marie would forgive him for taking off but he wasn't going to allow a bunch of slavers to get away.

"Yeah, she should be here right about...now."

Marie stepped out of the elevator and quickly ran over to the ship. She almost tripped over herself when she saw Garrus standing with Shepard and Nihlus.

"Garrus? What are you doing here?" Marie asked as they followed Nihlus and Shepard into the Nova. While small the ship was large enough to house the two new crew members.

"I asked to join yesterday, left a note on Palin's desk and everything." Garrus explained, making Marie smile. She was glad she had a familiar face even if she thought she was going into this alone.

"Alright everyone, let's go over the basics." Nihlus summoned everyone together and brought up a image from the security cameras. "We were lucky, the car that the suspects were driving is a newer model. Not many know this but newer model cars that have tinted windows have a program installed to allow cameras to see through the tint." 

The next image he pulled up was a similar picture with the tinted front window missing and Marie was able to see the krogan driver along with a portly human sitting in the passenger seat.

"Wait, I know that man." Marie said, pointing to the human. It has been years since she had seen him but she would never forget that face. "That's Nikolai Smirnov and he's one of my father's business partners!"

\-----------------------

Noxis slowly woke up, feeling slightly dizzy from the loss of blood. He could faintly hear Nikolai cursing somewhere behind him and continued to keep his head down as if he were still passed out.

"Why didn't you idiots tell met that's his daughter!" Nikolai shouted. From the pause Noxis could guess he was talking to someone on a phone.

"Cancel the kidnapping, can't let Hitomi's daughter suddenly go missing. What? She left with who?! Fuck!" 

Noxis heard something smash against the wall and footsteps stomp up behind him. Suddenly his head was yanked back by his fringe and he cried out in pain when Nikolai dug his nail into Noxis's wound.

"Listen here you turian fuck. You're going to tell me everything you know or I'm going to send you out of here bit by bit." Nikolai growled while Noxis weakly chuckled.

"I don't know how many times I need to say it to get it through those ears of yours. I don't know shit." 

Noxis winced when Nikolai backhanded him but laughed when he cut the back of his hand on his exposed teeth. Nikolai cursed, bringing the cut to his mouth and sucked on it. Nikolai suddenly froze, hand going to his mouth as he started wheezing. Noxis couldn't believe his eyes as he watched Nikolai struggle to breathe.

"You have to be kidding. Did you forget that about dextro allergies?"

Nikolai didn't answer as he collapsed on the ground. While Nikolai attempted to breathe the door behind Noxis opened and one of the krogan bodyguards stepped inside. 

"Boss we have landed and- boss?!"

The krogan shouted for help and Noxis watched as Nikolai was carried out of the room. After a few minutes of no one coming to check on him Noxis began to struggle, using his biotics to attempt to weaken one of the chain links. Finally he heard the sound of a chain snapping and felt the chains loosen around him. Noxis stumbled over to a nearby table and looked for anything that could be used as a weapon. He was able to find a lead pipe and held it against his chest as he stumbled over to the door. 

He could feel his vision fading as the door opened and Noxis could swear he heard Marie call out to him as he fell unconscious.

\-----------------------

Marie's heart pounded as she watched a group of krogans leave the ship carrying someone into the nearby building. Nihlus had followed the ship to a nearby base on a large asteroid. Marie had insisted on joining Nihlus as he went to retrieve Noxis while Shepard and Garrus stayed by the ship in case they needed a quick escape.

"Alright, my scanner says there's only one lifeform in the ship right now. We should be able to get in and grab him with no problem. If anything happens I want you to run out of the ship as quickly as you can." Nihlus told Marie as they quickly ran down to the ship. Marie could feel her heart beating rapidly as they climbed into the ship. Their footsteps sounded as loud as gunshots in the silent ship as they quickly checked through each room. 

"Marie, over here." Nihlus whispered, gesturing to a closed door. As Marie approached she could hear footsteps approaching before Marie could touch the door the door opened and Marie couldn't stop herself from shouting as a bloody and bruised Noxis collapsed into her arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really was tempted to continue writing but this felt like the right place to stop plus I can feel the eye strain setting in after writing three chapters in one day! XD 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter and comments are always appreciated ❤️


	8. Smooth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a friend of mine asked how tall Noxis and Marie were and I realized I never specifically talked about the height difference between them. So for all you who might have been curious, Noxis is 6'8 (203.2cm) and Marie is 4'5 (134.62cm)

Noxis was almost blinded when he woke up in a bright room. Groaning, he slowly sat up and looked around. By the smell it was obvious he was in a hospital room, the walls were a blinding white and a window to his left showed the Citadel and many cars flying by. He attempted to climb out of bed when he noticed a weight on his right side. Looking over he was surprised to see Marie sitting in a chair with her head in her arms resting on his bed.

"Ah, so you're finally awake." 

Noxis looked over to see an asari nurse, who introduced herself as Lariya, approach him and scan his vitals. She was careful not to wake Marie as she went about checking his vision, reflexes and his wound.

"Alright Mr. Venictus, your recovery is coming along nicely. In a few days you should be well enough for surgery to replace your lost mandible." Lariya explained as she grabbed a spare blanket and draped it over Marie.

"I'm glad she's finally getting some sleep. She hasn't left your side since you were brought in." Lariya smiled and Noxis swore he saw her wink at him as she walked away. "I'm sure you're probably hungry. I'll just grab you and her some food just in case she wakes up."

Noxis looked down at Marie and gently ran a hand through her hair. He froze when Marie shifted and heard her softly say his name in her sleep.

"Heh, dreaming about me are you princess?" He chuckled, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. Marie moaned softly and slowly opened her eyes. It took her a moment for her eyes to settle on Noxis but when they did he was surprised to find Marie launching herself at him.

"Nox!" Marie cried, her arms wrapping around his neck as she hugged him tightly. Noxis was stunned for a moment until he felt something wet through his thin shirt; Marie was crying.

"Hey hey, no need to cry princess, I'm still breathing." His subvocals let out a comforting him as he carded his talons through her hair. He didn't know if his subvocals actually helped or not but he felt her breathing slowly even out.

"When you went missing I got a call from V. She said a bounty was placed on you and then when I saw your mandible, I…" a fresh wave of tears ran down her cheeks as she stifled a sob. Noxis silently hoped the bastard suffocated and died for making Marie cry. Noxis carefully picked Marie up and let her straddle his lap as he held her until she stopped sobbing. Even with him sitting down she looked so much smaller as she looked up at him. He gently brushed the tears from her cheeks as he pressed his forehead against hers. This time he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Listen Marie, I promise nothing is going to happen to me. It'll take more than a few mercenaries and some entitled human to kill me." He could blame it on pain killers later but right now he just wanted to hold her for a bit longer. He wouldn't admit it but right before he passed out he mourned that he never got a chance to hold Marie like he did now.

"Noxis…" she shivered lightly at how tenderly he said her name. She gently cupped his cheek, blushing when she could hear a low purr like rumble from him. Her heart was beating rapidly as she looked into his eyes. She wondered if he would know what she was doing if she kissed him.

"Alright I got one dextro and one levo- oh!" Lariya blushed a deep blue when she saw the scene she walked in on. "I'll just leave these right here. Just press the call button if you need anything." She placed the plates on a nearby table and closed the door behind her as she left. Noxis heard an embarrassed noise escape Marie as she quickly climbed off his bed and walked over to the table.

"I-I should probably leave you to eat. Plus I need to tell Nihlus you're awake and I should probably let V know you're alright and…"

"Marie," Noxis stood up and walked over to her, gently cupping her cheek and turning her to face him. "Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No," she quickly admitted, blushing as she looked up at him. "Far from it. I just never felt like this before and I'm nervous."

"I understand," he leaned down to press his forehead against her. "Do you know what this means?"

"No but it feels nice." She laughed lightly when she felt him purring. "Especially when you do that."

"It's basically how we show affection, to you it would probably be similar to a kiss." He couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her face redden. "I guess you could say this is my way of saying I really care about you."

"I…I think I feel the same." She admitted, smiling when she could hear his purring deepen. "I don't know when but you seemed to have found your way into my heart."

"Well it couldn't have been my good looks." He said jokingly though Marie could hear a hint of sadness in his tone. She immediately reached up and gently touched the left side of his face, carefully avoiding the wound to avoid hurting him.

"I don't care what you look like. You could be a krogan for all I can and I probably would feel the same." She said sternly. Noxis chuckled and picked her up, making her yelp and wrap her legs around his waist as he nuzzled her neck.

"Now that's just harsh princess, I'm much more handsome than a krogan." He purred, grinning as Marie lightly smacked him as he carried her over to his bed. He laid down, shifting so Marie could lay comfortably on him.

"You know our food is getting cold and I really do need to tell Nihlus you're awake." She said, stifling a yawn while Noxis grabbed the blanket and covered them both.

"Nihlus can wait. Right now I just wanna hold you." He mumbled, purring in satisfaction as he watched Marie slowly fall asleep.

\-----------------------------

Garrus sighed as he looked through the files sent to them by V. He had spent the last few hours going through the files and sending important information to Nihlus to help him start making arrests. He jumped in surprise when a cup of kava was placed in front of him.

"You should probably take a break, looking at all these files can't be good for your health." Shepherd said as she sat down across from him.

"You're right but I worry the longer it takes to finish looking over this then the more time some of these people have to escape." Garrus admitted, taking a careful sip from his cup.

"I understand but you can't help anyone if you're collapsing from exhaustion. Besides, we already have one person in the hospital. We don't need two." 

Garrus chuckled and nodded. "You're right, though unlike Noxis, Marie would probably be scolding me instead of worrying about me if I end up there."

"She really must care about Noxis. I couldn't get her to leave when we brought him to the hospital." Shepard noted, remembering how Marie refused to leave Noxis's bedside even when the doctor reassured her that he was stable.

"Yeah, I never thought she'd fall for a turian but that woman is always full of surprises." Garrus mused while Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"Do you not approve of human and turian relationships?" She asked, making Garrus splutter.

"No of course not! I mean, I never thought about dating a human myself. Not that I'm not open to the idea! It just never occurred to me." Garrus quickly explained which made Shepard chuckle. A notification from her omni-tool made her stand up and she threw Garrus a small smirk as she walked away.

"I'll keep that in mind. I'll talk to you later Garrus."

Garrus groaned and covered his face with his hands as the door closed behind Shepard.

"Smooth Garrus, real smooth." He mumbled to himself.


End file.
